Were you impressed with much of what you heard in Ecclesiastes? “Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.” If you take that statement at face value, it’s ridiculous. (Pa Grape says in an observation more profound than “The Preacher’s”, “Why even bring it up?!”) If there is a deeper meaning to it, he could at least have given us a clue to what it is. That he didn’t, leaves us with nothing more than the face-value option. Even though he repeatedly mentioned how wise he was and called himself the Preacher, I’m not fooled into thinking that his meaning is so profound that I have failed to fathom it.
I believe that one of the reasons this book has been preserved as part of God’s word to us is that its conclusion refers to the best truth man can apprehend: revere God. Man can speak or write many words of his wisdom, even impressive words, but there is no wisdom that matters more than the wisdom that directs us to God. That may be ridiculously simple wisdom, so simple that it is rejected as wisdom, but wisdom doesn’t need to be more profound than that.
How do we reconcile the impressive credentials of Solomon with the mostly rather lame observations of Ecclesiastes? Until Solomon became corrupted by sin, his wisdom was impressive and established his reputation. Some of his insights likely continued to teach and impress others even as he grew more foolish. Likely also, seekers were so impressed with his reputation that they assumed his babblings had some deeper meaning that they couldn’t comprehend. The god of this age blinded the minds of unbelievers even then, and some probably were deceived into thinking that his wisdom was profound because he spoke it with such authority. He spoke truly that there is nothing new under the sun. People get deceived in the same way even today. Let this book be our lesson and reminder to seek God’s wisdom so that we are not foolish.